


(untitled)

by shyfoxling



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: F/M, Plot What Plot, Smut
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2008-10-30
Updated: 2008-10-30
Packaged: 2017-10-14 16:43:30
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Underage
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,202
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/151345
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/shyfoxling/pseuds/shyfoxling
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>What's that you say? Some random girl has a crush on Severus, and he can drag himself out of mooning over Lily long enough to take her up on it? Nah. Never happen.</p>
            </blockquote>





	(untitled)

**Author's Note:**

> **Warnings/Contains:** OFC with silly name ("Elspeth Alderley"? *eyeroll*), magical room that's a _deus ex machina_ and is never explained, cracky lines, unrealistically good teenage sex, references to Severus/Regulus and unrequited Severus/Lily.

Charms was beginning to be a bit of an ordeal. As much as Elspeth liked the subject, she had to admit that at NEWT level, her head was getting rather full by now. She often wished sixth year would just hurry up and be over, but it was still only May.

There was another problem, too: for most of the year she had been sneaking looks at Severus Snape in the classes they shared, and it was taking more and more concentration away from her work. Even though she could tell he still fancied that Evans girl in Gryffindor (well, anyone with a brain could tell _that_ ), she couldn't help it.

The net result was that at the end of the day like this, when her brain seemed to refuse to absorb anything Flitwick was saying, she tended to fail on the "sneaking" part of looking at him.

As she walked down the hallway after leaving class, eager to fetch some mindless pulp novel from her dorm in Ravenclaw tower and take it outside for a nice hour or so of turning off her brain, Elspeth felt something snag the sleeve of her robe.

When she turned to see what it was and disentangle herself, she discovered that the offending object was three slender fingers which had caught a fold of the fabric between them. These fingers appeared to be in close association with a slender wrist, a long arm, thin shoulders, a pale throat, and a pair of dark eyes framed by lank black hair. The cohort was obviously, then, in the employ of one Mr. Severus Snape.

"Was there something you wanted from me, Alderley?" he said, his expression nearly blank but for a strange light in his eyes.

"Pardon?" Elspeth said, confused. "There's, er, nothing I..."

"Oh? It's only that you were staring at me so much during Charms just now, you see. Was I mistaken, then?" Something in his tone hinted that he thought rather the opposite.

Elspeth looked down at his fingers, which were rubbing the fabric of her sleeve between them, and then back into his eyes. She swallowed. "Very well — yes, actually, but I would prefer to discuss it somewhere..."

"...less crowded?" he finished for her. The corners of his mouth turned up ever so slightly.

"So to say," she said, and smirked.

"Follow me, then, but not too closely," Severus said, and she did. She had heard of a curious secret room on the seventh floor, and wondered if that was their destination, but Severus instead led her to a rather ordinary-looking door on the fourth floor, albeit it was in a dusty and shadowy sort of alcove.

"Take my hand," he said softly, holding one out to her.

Elspeth startled, and hoped the ambient light was dim enough to hide the blush in her cheeks. "What?"

"Opens only for Slytherins... and guests," Severus explained, with a little curl to his lip.

"I would have thought anything like that would be in the dungeons," Elspeth said as she placed her hand in his. His fingers were pleasantly cool; his skin unexpectedly soft except for a little roughness at the fingertips and a writing callus on his third finger, where a quill shaft would rest.

Severus noticed the inquisitive exploration of her fingers and thumb, and looked sideways at her. A shiver ran down Elspeth's spine at the feeling of his gaze. "One might think that," he said mysteriously as he placed his other palm on the door. It opened silently, and Severus tugged her inside.

The room was nothing special, and Elspeth wondered why it was so important that only Slytherins be able to enter. It looked very much like a lonely storage room, although curiously there didn't seem to be much in the way of spiderwebs or dust. It was about the size of her common room, although with a much lower ceiling. There were some worn desks, tables, and chairs scattered about the floor and some shelves on the walls bearing assorted books and bric-a-brac.

"I don't understand. What's so interesting?"

"What do you mean?" he said, his face falling into a look of genuine confusion. "Don't you see it?"

"See what?" Elspeth quickly put two and two together. "You've never actually brought anyone else in here before, have you?"

"But there was – I – well, no," he admitted grudgingly, and turned away to examine the shelves, or so they appeared to Elspeth.

"See what, then?" she repeated.

"It's a rather nice lounge," said Severus. "Comfortable appointments, fire, books, bar—" (he smirked) "—wireless set, teh—eh..." He choked on the last word, and Elspeth thought he might have been about to say "telly". _Does he have some Muggle background, then?_ she wondered, but decided not to inquire about it now.

"So it can't be like that room on the seventh floor, then," Elspeth said, drawing on the rumours she'd heard about the place.

"What room?" Severus replied, a little too innocently.

"Right," Elspeth said. "Well, it looks like some kind of storage to me."

Severus frowned thoughtfully and said mostly to himself, "But that isn't right. Last time it was like this for him and me both. Why not now?"

" 'Him and me'? 'Last time'?" Elspeth asked, raising her eyebrows.

"None of your business," Severus said, his frown becoming hostile as he turned annoyed eyes on her.

"All right; I'm sorry. I was just curious."

Severus's features softened a bit as he sighed and struck his fists softly against the wall. After a moment with his head bowed, he snapped it up suddenly to look at her with a kind of desperation. "Will you tell me anyway?"

"Did I say I wouldn't?" Elspeth said, facing Severus as she seated herself on top of a nearby desk. "I just wanted to understand where we were."

Severus turned around and leaned against the wall with his arms folded. "It looks like there's still at least one amazing and mysterious thing at Hogwarts, then," he said a bit uncertainly.

"Yes, apparently there is," Elspeth said, and smiled.

A little colour appeared in his cheeks. "I do so love being correct," he said, and glided over to stand in front of her. At this distance she could feel the warmth of his body, but he didn't touch her. She could feel his eyes tracing the contours of her face and neck, and a hot ache awoke low in her belly.

Now she remembered just what it was that had started all this: that despite what many people would say, as far as she was concerned, Severus was one sexy piece of work. She had spent no small number of nights envisioning him lying beside her, kissing her, touching her, bringing her off more times than was really very likely when you looked at it logically; then slipping smirkingly but longingly out the door at the crack of dawn like some romantic highwayman of a lover out of a folk song, except without all of that deadly dull business about unintended pregnancy.

Elspeth braced her arms on the desk as she leaned forward, and pressed one knee against his hip. "Hi," she said softly, and smiled. She thought she caught the hint of an answering smile before her eyes were too close to his skin to see properly.

She nuzzled his cheek and brushed her nose against his own, lips not quite touching. Truth be told, it was quite electric enough, and she wasn't sure she could handle more just at the moment. Severus was suddenly shy himself, to judge by how his whole body tensed up and the way he gasped and then ceased to breathe.

Summoning her courage and plugging it into her desire, Elspeth pressed forward just that fraction more and gently closed her lips on his. She was delighted with the tiny whimper that escaped Severus's throat and raised a hand to touch his hair. Some envoy from the august chambers of intellectual curiosity (Doctor of this, Professor of that, bearer of Rowena's Cypher of the other) wondered if something could be done about its fine, oily texture, but he was swiftly shouted down by several more urgent agenda items as Severus pressed her knee against his body with one hand and stroked the fingertips of the other against her neck and behind her ear.

If she'd been trying to stand, Elspeth would surely have wilted to the floor and dragged Severus with her. Even though it was just soft presses of lips and slow motions of mouths, no tongues or teeth or anything, the kiss was stupefyingly exquisite. It was like there was nothing else in Severus's world. He kept drawing in sharp, quiet little breaths that had the sound of surprise, as though he couldn't believe he was privileged to be doing this.

Elspeth moaned at that thought as Severus trailed his hand across her throat and shoulder, then down her arm to lace his fingers with hers. His skin felt quite warm now, and she broke the kiss to nip at Severus's neck and collarbone. Her free hand fumbled for a way into his robes, eager to touch more of that skin, but Severus caught it with his own and held it by the wrist. He didn't push her away, but clenched the fingers of both hands as he asked, "What do you think you're doing?"

She froze, pulled back, and hung her head in shame. "I – I just wanted – sorry—!"

He pushed back on her arms and ducked his head so he could see her eyes. "No," he said, "no. Not that. Literally, what do you think you are doing? I must know." He gave her arms a little shake.

Elspeth fought the tears that were welling in her eyes. What had she been thinking? Clearly she hadn't been at all. Her friends would be ashamed of her. She knew how he felt about Evans, despite what had happened last year. It was as plain as, well, the nose on his face, which was saying something. And there was no way someone with Elspeth's common colouring and unremarkable body was going to compete with her shapely, red-haired, green-eyed beauty.

"Elspeth, tell me," Severus murmured, and she shivered at the way his voice caressed each syllable. She lifted her gaze and blinked the tears from her eyes. Words were on the tip of her tongue, but they faltered as she noticed that the wall behind Severus was different. Looking around in confusion, she saw that the details of the room had changed to be just as Severus had said they were, television included, and she was now sitting on the top surface of some kind of antique table.

"What is it?" he said, seeing the change in her expression.

"I see it," she said vacantly.

"Ah." He looked slightly worried. "What... do you think?"

"Well," she replied slyly, "Given that what we were just up to seems to have something to do with it, it does rather make me wonder what you were doing in here with ' _him_ '..."

Severus's cheeks went a little pink again. "Don't you talk about—"

"But that's not what I'm most interested in at the moment," Elspeth murmured, pulling their joined hands to her cheek and rubbing the back of Severus's hand along her skin. She fought to keep the nervous quaver from her voice as she continued, "You wanted to know what I thought I was doing?"

Severus nodded, releasing both of his hands and placing them gently on her hips. Elspeth reached out to brush his hair back from his face, and he twitched away slightly, as if fearing she would strike him. She stared at her fingers trailing softly over his temple, ear, and throat, afraid to look him in the eyes. When she worked her hand around to the back of his neck, she pulled forward gently, and leaned towards his ear.

"I thought I was about to have a wonderful time with this _very_ attractive boy that I've been lusting after for ages, but who I thought there could never be a chance with, even for so much as a hug and a snog," she whispered, sliding her hand down to his upper back and bringing the other one around to join it. "Although the way you kiss, one could hardly call it snogging. God, Severus, that was amazing..."

He made a funny sort of high-pitched coughing noise that Elspeth thought sounded like he was stifling an embarrassed giggle. She laughed softly herself and pulled his body against hers as much as she could. Severus nuzzled at her hair as his arms snaked around her waist.

"I'm not going to kid myself," Elspeth went on, the attempt at sultriness dropping out of her voice. "I know there's... someone else you really want."

"Mmmf—"

She stopped him by pressing his face into her shoulder. "Don't try it. But Severus... even if we stop here... I don't want you to leave here without knowing how much I've thought about you. Obviously I look at you a lot, but it's more than that... when I'm in bed at night, I..." She choked up, suddenly ashamed of her desires, and could go no further.

"You what?" Severus said quietly into the skin at the join of her neck and shoulder, and when Elspeth made no reply, pulled back to look into her eyes. He placed the tips of his first two fingers under her chin and gazed at her intently. "You what?" he repeated, and although his words tried to be commanding, his tone was entirely needy. Deep in his eyes he looked – he looked _afraid_ , but there was a fire like he was forcing himself not to dwell in it, to have courage and walk straight into the terrifying and unknown place that was the truth of her opinions.

Elspeth felt as frightened as she fancied he must, but was amazed at his bravery while she had little enough to match it. She felt herself shrink away slightly as she stammered, "I – I pretend that you're th-there with me, you've sneaked in somehow, and no one else knows... and you touch me and k-kiss me and make love to me for hours on end, and you're more w-wonderful and tender and beautiful than a-anyone would believe, and the sound of your v-voice when you f-fuck me and finally cry out as you c-come is just—"

She closed her eyes as she felt tears pricking them again, the thought of that fantasy sound so exquisite that she could barely breathe.

"Elspeth," Severus said softly, and she gasped at the intimate caress of his voice. "Look at me." She opened her eyes and darted them back and forth between his. He laid one hand on her thigh and brought the other up to brush a thumb over her nipple, palpably hard even through the layers of fabric. "I think I would disappoint you terribly," he said a little sadly, and squeezed her leg gently before moving both hands to brush the outer curves of her breasts with his fingertips. Elspeth bit her lip and arched her back slightly; the touch was something right out of many of her fantasies. "There's no way I could possibly last for 'hours on end', not if you were responding like thisss..."

His upper lip took on a feral curve as he said the last word, and the feeling of his gaze turned hungry. She felt his hands moving to undo her robes, but couldn't tear her eyes away from his face. His eyes smouldered with eager lust, and she was pinned like the hypnotized prey of a serpent.

Shortly, Elspeth felt cool air across her upper chest, and had just worked out what that must mean – he could see her, and she was... she was... well... "Seh – Severus, are you s-ssure... I mean, do you really like..."

"Mmmnn... why shouldn't I?" he replied, circling her nipples with both thumbs through the sheer fabric of her bra, and bending his head to kiss and lick the soft inner curve of one breast.

"Because they're... I'm..."

Severus jerked up abruptly and considered her for a moment. "Let me show you something," he said, lifting one eyebrow. He reached for her hand and guided it down to his crotch before she could object. Elspeth's eyes rolled slightly back at the feeling of his prick, hot and hard even through his clothing.

"I've been like that since you let me kiss you," he said, low and sensual. "Whatever you apparently think of yourself, it's quite enough to have me _aching_ , thank you very much." He grasped her hips and slid her carefully closer to the edge of the table. Elspeth could feel him pressed against the inside of her thigh as he stood between her legs and spoke into her hair once more, his hands starting to cling with a twitchy, desperate character.

"Knowing what you seem to think of me doesn't help, either... for a certain meaning of the word 'help'." Elspeth could hear the smirk. "God, I – that sounded so delicious, what you said – I could find a way, if you really want, come into your room and stay with you all night, secretly, just like you said—"

"Severus, you hardly even know me," she said, but pressed a hand against the small of his back to pull him even closer to her. "You don't mean that. You're just saying those things because you're—"

"Aroused as fuck?" he asked rhetorically, and growled into her neck before biting it. One of Severus's hands slipped down to stroke her belly, and the other pressed fingers between her legs, rubbing the fabric over the swollen, sensitive flesh.

He made a sort of whimpering sound, and Elspeth gasped as she felt a tingle of magic. Somehow, he'd managed to Vanish her knickers, but he clearly hadn't spoken, wasn't even touching his wand. "Ahhh—! How did you do that?"

"What, how did I do what?" he said, startling and drawing back from her. Elspeth looked shyly down at the lower half of her body, then back up at his eyes. He seemed to understand, and a look of shame came over his face.

"Oh – oh no, I didn't mean – I only wan—" He brought one hand to his mouth and bit his first finger to try to stop himself babbling more nonsense.

"You only wan...ted..." Elspeth thought for a second. No incantation, no wand; and he had _wanted_ something... Her eyes widened as she found what she thought must be the only explanation. "You wanted that so badly you managed to do accidental magic?"

"I... I must have done..." Severus said, his expression confused, and his whole body language showing fear of reprisal. "Please – I would never do anything you didn't ask... for..."

He trailed off and his eyes widened in turn as she parted her robes the rest of the way and leaned back onto her arms, locked at the elbows. She peered up at him through her eyelashes and said with mock shyness, "Then... then what if I asked you to touch me?" He hesitated, but not for long. She hadn't even finished her next sentence – "Please, Severus, want you to m— _uhn—ohh!_ " – before he had fastened his mouth on her throat and plunged his fingers into the wetness between her thighs.

"Want me to make you come, is that it? Is that what you want? Clever little Ravenclaw, mmm, that's just what I want too," he said, his voice husky. He seemed to have lost almost every ounce of the aloof composure he usually had, that he'd had even half an hour ago. Now, he was a creature composed of pounding heart and firm cock and hot breath and _desire_. "Tell me how," he panted, and ground himself against her as he stroked two fingers back and forth over her clitoris. "Want to please you... what do I do in these dreams of yours? Anything you want... let me serve—oh, fuck, please..."

Elspeth wondered fuzzily if he might just come out of his own excitement without her touching him at all. She wanted, oh, how she wanted to hear those cries, to find out if they matched her imagination, but at the moment his fingers, surprisingly cool against her hot, slick cunt, were providing a very compelling distraction. "Just do... that... oh God, maybe... inside..."

Severus swiftly obliged her, and slipped his first and middle fingers inside her while his other hand, high on her thigh, kept the folds of fabric out of the way. His thumb brushed across her clitoris in maddeningly unsatisfying random patterns, and he began to tease her mouth with tiny nibbling kisses and flicks of his tongue. She tried to catch his lips for a firmer, slower kiss, but what he was doing was making her breathe aloud so much that she couldn't manage it.

"Slower... softer," she gasped, clasping his wrist and guiding his fingers back up into that back-and-forth stroke he had started with.

"Like this?" he said, and planted a gentle kiss right at the corner of her mouth. It was an unexpectedly sensitive spot; she whimpered at the sensation, and felt him smile against her cheek. "Like this?" he repeated, his voice a honeyed murmur, as he added the hint of a circling motion with his fingers.

Again there was a contradiction between what he was saying and what he was doing. His voice was a bit smug, _I've-got-you-right-where-I-want-you_ , clearly expecting a "yes" answer. But the touch of his hands, so tender and attentive despite his inexperience, and the sweet curve of his body as he bent to kiss her collarbone and _oh, oh God, that thing he was doing with his tongue now_ , somehow all made her feel precious and adored.

"Mmmnnnyyessss...." she moaned, tangling her hands in his hair and pulling him up to kiss him deeply. "Little... faster..." she mumbled into his mouth, and he did, and _oh that's so good_... and before she knew it she was whimpering helplessly and pleading, "Please, Sev'rus, _please_..."

"Please, _don't_ ," he said on top of her words, pulling back briefly to look into her eyes, then kissing her desperately again. "Don't beg me. _Don't_ ," he said in between hot strokes of his tongue, his fingers slowing but never stopping. "You're not... not at my _mercy_ , like some _prisoner_. You _asked_ me for this. You – I'm – ummmnnnhh–" Severus seemed to lose the power of speech again as he dipped a finger firmly inside her and used it to smear her own wetness around her.

The urgency in his voice was strange. It was as though she had accused him of forcing her and he were vehemently denying it. Elspeth wondered if someone had mocked him so, saying that the only way anyone would ever let him anywhere near them is if he forced them. Well, she knew that wasn't true, at least to judge by the hot, slippery need between her legs that he was plying and encouraging with his agile fingers.

She buried her face in his shoulder and hooked a leg around him. "You're damn right I asked, and I'm – _ohhh_ – so glad I did," she said, and wormed a hand into Severus's clothing to touch the skin of his chest and stomach. This time he did nothing to prevent her, and moaned happily as she traced her fingertips over his nipple. His skin was hot and soft and she craved more of it.

She pictured herself running her hands over his naked sides and back as he slid himself inside her, right there on the desk or table or whatever the hell it was, she didn't care. She knew that if he did that it would probably be over far too fast, but she was yearning to learn the feel of his thrusts, if they would be tender and gentle or hard and deep and whichever would surely be fine because _fuck_ did she ever want him.

"Severus, wait," she panted, and he froze, clearly afraid he'd done something wrong. "No, don't worry," she assured him, and reached behind herself to unfasten her bra and lay it beside her.

For a second he stared dumbly at her naked breasts, his eyes wide and his mouth slightly open. Then he looked up at her, and she smiled. His tiny answering smile was adorably shy, she thought, as she tugged on his robes. "Off? Please?"

Severus blushed a little, and looked uncertain. "We – we can't, I mean, we shouldn't..."

"I know, Severus, I just want to feel your _skiinnnn_..." She drew out the last word and let her eyes slide shut as she saw herself clasping his lean body against hers, another wave of desire rising inside her.

Severus pressed his lips together, but it didn't do much to muffle the whimper that escaped him. He seemed to be struggling with the idea for a few moments, but finally his arousal must have won out, because he hurriedly shrugged off his top layer, unfastened the under-robe to his waist, and slipped it off his slim shoulders.

"Mmm... fresh young Slytherin, my favourite!" Elspeth teased, and pulled him back towards her. The sensation of his skin brushing across her nipples was delicious, and they both moaned as they ran their hands over each other. He arched away from her, though, when she tried to reach down and palm his cock.

"Severus, what's wrong?"

"Ohhhh, just don't touch me," he groaned, sounding disappointed. "I – ah..." His voice dropped to an embarrassed whisper. "I'd probably come."

A flash of hot lust went through her. "Ooh, _Sevvverus_....! Sounds _perfect_ to me..."

"But then... what could I offer to tempt you back for a second go?" he purred as he returned to stroking her, his first two fingers on either side of her clit and the other two brushing lightly against her labia. She cried out with pleasure, and he chuckled softly. "You hungry little treasure... you want so much, it's beautiful... can't satisfy all your lusts at once, now can we? Have to leave at least a little something so you'll come back for more... so delectable... nnnhhh..."

Severus was usually a taciturn sort, so Elspeth hadn't had much chance to hear his voice before. What she'd heard, she'd liked, but this... this was something else again; she reckoned there were probably a lot more late nights in her future. And now more than ever, she wanted to hear that voice making pleasure noises of its own.

Elspeth moaned and began to say so, but Severus silenced her with a soul-stealing kiss. "No words," he said afterwards. "Let me do the talking. I just want to hear the sound of your breathing..." There was a sobbing hitch in that, because Elspeth knew she was very close to orgasm now. "Look what I've done," Severus continued. "You're so warm and soft... my skin on yours is incredible, I can't believe I thought I shouldn't do this... I can feel your pulse racing, just here in your throat... every time you whimper like that I want to... oh, I heard that, that little change, you're going to, aren't you, please, I've never—"

Elspeth came with a long, deep moan, pressing her hips against Severus's hand and riding it. She felt his other hand move into her hair and he pulled her head back, slightly roughly, but she didn't mind. He kissed her like he was a starving man feasting on the sounds she was making as he held his hand still and let her body do what it wanted.

When she finally came back to reality, she was surprised to find Severus staring at her adoringly, his eyes softer than she'd ever seen them before. "Thank you," he whispered, seeming rather in outer space himself.

"Huh?" Elspeth said, and laughed.

"What's funny?" Severus said, the contented look disappearing from his face.

" 'Huh'. Apparently that's the most intelligent thing I can think of to say at the moment, is 'huh'."

"Mmmm, well, that can be our secret," Severus replied, and wound his arms around her. "Wouldn't want them tossing you out of that skyscraping eyrie you call a common room. Hallways are a cold place to sleep."

"Caw, caw!" Elspeth said, and giggled.

"That's crows, not eagles. You're delirious."

"If I am, it's your fault." She disentangled herself from him, fished for her discarded bra, and put it back on. Taking his cue, Severus buttoned himself back into his own clothing and settled the green-trimmed second layer on top.

"Hmm," Elspeth said thoughtfully, looking down.

"Hmm?"

"Well, it appears that by the courtesy of one Mr. Snape, late of Slytherin House, I am missing the other half of my undergarments..."

He laughed then, _laughed_ , briefly but genuinely, and quickly hid it in his sleeve. His eyes, peering out from above his arm, were bright with mirth.

"...and, not to put too fine a point on it, I seem to have contracted a case of _wet-spot-itis._ "

Severus snickered into his sleeve again, closing his eyes. "Ahh... hmm," he said, when he had composed himself. Affecting the same high-society tone she had used, he went on, "As for the former, you may consider it my gift to you, Miss Alderley."

 _That smirk is truly a thing to behold_ , Elspeth thought as she found her wand and pulled her robes back up onto her shoulders.

"The latter – ahem — _condition_ , according to the literature, is rarely fatal and usually clears itself up in a few... see, there you are," he elaborated, noticing the disappearance of said spot as she cast a silent cleaning charm.

Elspeth hopped down from the table and straightened her clothing as best she could. "Well thank you, Healer," she said, trying not to laugh. She felt flushed and disheveled, but was already enjoying the idea of being coy with her friends about what had just happened.

"I should go," she said softly, taking his hand. To her surprise, he drew hers up to his mouth and kissed the inside of her wrist, then nipped one of her knuckles with his teeth. The gleam in his eye made it plain that he was still very aroused, and she marveled that he hadn't given in to it and taken her up on her offer to do him as well. Elspeth wondered vainly for a moment if he was going to go off and take care of it himself while thinking about her, and swallowed nervously. _Severus picturing **me** – oh God... _

"You first," he said, letting go her hand. "You won't see me behind you."

"All right." Elspeth noticed that the room had taken on its storage guise for her once more, and peered carefully out of the door. "See you later," she said over her shoulder. Severus nodded, and she slipped quietly out.

************

Severus let out the breath he had been holding. "That went rather well," he said quietly to himself. He hadn't thought things would carry on quite that far when he had decided that, yes, she was definitely looking at him, and talked himself into taking the chance on what it could mean. He would have been pleasantly surprised to have got, as she had put it, a hug and a snog; even more so if she didn't think better of it afterwards and awkwardly excuse herself, as he had expected she would.

As it was, though there was that odd business with Regulus and the fact that a couple of the Slytherin girls had consented to let him try kissing and touching them a little, Severus really found it rather startling that anyone would harbour such erotic thoughts about him. As much as he had thought she liked him, he certainly had never felt that sort of thing coming from Lily...

 _ **Lily.** Oh, **shit.**_ Severus fought down the urge to punch one of the tables, and instead collapsed into one of the chairs and rubbed his forehead. Why had Elspeth had to mention Lily? He hadn't even been thinking about comparing the two of them until she brought her up.

At the start of sixth year, Severus had sensed that Lily's anger had cooled down over the summer. But here it was nearly a year after The Incident and all the progress he'd managed to make with his apologetic looks and soft words was that she would once again speak to him like a regular person. _A regular person,_ Severus thought forlornly. _That could be anyone. That isn't her "Sev"..._

Although she still obviously had little warmth in her heart for Potter, she sometimes let him and his sidekick Black-the-Elder follow her about like puppies, or bodyguards, which he supposed was really what they thought they were doing: protecting her from the scum of the earth they judged him to be.

So Severus had put a lot of time into trying to put Lily out of his mind, and now here had come _Miss Alderley, late of Ravenclaw House,_ he thought with vicious sarcasm, to flush it all down the bog. _Brilliant, just fucking brilliant._

Severus sighed, trying to calm himself down. "Think, now," he mumbled to the empty room. "She's told you one thing you need to know, and that's that you're being too obvious. Perhaps that's putting Lily off." He leaned forward, placing his forearms on his thighs and folding his hands. _And Elspeth, well... she's obviously... ah, **interested.**_ He felt his prick pause in its softening at the euphemistic thought. _Why turn away opportunity when it beats down your door?_

He looked contemplatively at the sleeves of his robes, and suddenly his eyes focused: a few strands of Elspeth's slightly reddish-brown hair were clinging to the nap of the wool in various places.

A whisper of an idea began to form in Severus's mind, and he carefully drew the hairs out to curl in his hand. _It needs a private place... but what better way to learn the secrets of someone's body?_ Pleased with himself, he grinned slyly, then schooled his features to his usual disinterest before making his way back to the common room.

************

"Snape?!" Elspeth whispered, louder than she meant to. "I mean, Severus? How on earth did you get in here?"

"Whisht!" he said, waving a barely visible hand to silence her, and spoke so softly she could hardly hear him as he cast an Imperturbable Charm. "There, that's better," he continued, though not much more loudly, his voice as dark as the room around them.

"I said, how—"

"I told you I would find a way if you wanted me to," Severus murmured as he crawled, spider-like, to kneel beside her where she sat up in bed. "You did want me to, I thought...?" He leaned in to nuzzle her ear and stroked her other cheek.

Elspeth felt her breathing quicken. "Well, it's... mmm... er, fantasies are just..."

"Sometimes very good material to build on," he finished for her as he threaded fingers into her hair and kissed her jawline. "Oh, but—" He drew a vial out of a pocket and handed it to her. "Drink that," he said.

"Why? What is it?" Elspeth asked.

"Fine, don't, if you want me to be the father of your child."

"Oh... _oh!_ " She blushed, taking his meaning. He wanted to... _oh my._ She suddenly felt hot all over, and swallowed. "Ah... that won't be necessary. I already make my own."

"Oh, so you've some experience, then?" he said, sounding like he was leering.

"Well... not exactly, I... when you're a girl... you just, well, you never know."

" 'Not exactly'," he repeated thoughtfully, and paused for a moment. "Elspeth... are you seventeen yet?"

"August, just before term starts," she said, avoiding his gaze. "Why, are you?"

"January," he admitted. "Do you think... I mean, would your parents..."

"What they don't know," she said, and pulled him into a heated kiss. "But Severus," she said afterwards, sliding her hands up under his shirt, "please, how _did_ you manage?"

"I've friends in high places," he said dryly, and Elspeth laughed into his shoulder. He stroked her hair. "No, I can't tell you... I might not be able to use that way again if I do. It has to be secret."

"I can keep a secret."

"Two can keep a secret if one of them is dead."

"Hmm, then I'm glad I didn't drink that potion."

He pulled back, looking insulted, and a retort clearly on the tip of his tongue.

"Severus, relax," Elspeth said, laying her fingers on his lips to shush him. "I'm sorry." She brushed her thumb over his cheek, guided him gently towards her, and kissed him softly. "Let's turn back a few pages." She leaned back against her pillow, pulling Severus down with her. "You've come to visit in the middle of the night... now what?"

"Now this," he replied, and kissed her so wonderfully she thought she might never need to kiss anyone again.

************

As it turned out, he was right: he couldn't last hours on end.

Well, not each time, anyway.


End file.
